He looks upward for true wealth, health

Every Tuesday for nearly 10 years, Albert Huerta has stood at the
front of a growing group of followers and preached the word of God.
Afterward, scores of people line up to have him pray over them - to
speak to God on their behalf.

But each of them has come here for the same reason - they believe,
as he does, that Huerta is an instrument of God.

It wasn't always that way. There was a time when Huerta, who has no
formal religious training, worshiped money more than God.

Huerta, 62, grew up in the poorest barrios of Laredo with little
more in the refrigerator than water. The experience left him hungry for
success. He worked his way through college and law school and went on
to a successful career as an attorney. By the late 1980s he was
bringing home several million dollars a year.

All that money, Huerta said, and he was still empty.

And then God reminded him what it was like to be humble.

Nearly 10 years ago, Huerta's son, Joseph, himself an attorney and
young father, was in a skiing accident that shattered his skull.
Doctors told Huerta if his son lived he would be in a vegetative state
for the rest of his life.

Huerta decided he would do what he did best - buy his 30-year-old
son's life back. He knelt in prayer and offered up $1 million to the
church in exchange for his son. But when Joseph's condition didn't
improve, Huerta said it became clear. God didn't want his money. He
wanted his soul.

If God agreed to restore Joseph's health, Huerta promised to
"magnify and glorify" God's name for the rest of his life.

He's worked to hold up his end of the deal ever since.

In 1998, a year after Joseph's accident and the start of his slow
recovery, Huerta started My Father's House, a nonprofit
interdenominational ministry dedicated to bringing people closer to
God. When he first opened, the small chapel was nearly empty. But the
crowd has grown from 50 to as many as 400. Sometimes they come from San
Antonio by the busload. Others have traveled from as far away as
Colorado.

Ingleside Municipal Judge Carsten Meyer says he is one of the
believers. A few years ago Meyer was diagnosed with throat cancer.
Treatments and surgery left him ragged. His throat often would close up
and he was forced to eat through a feeding tube.

"I know there are lots of people out there who doubt what he is
doing," said Meyer, who is in remission. "All I know is since he prayed
for me I haven't needed that feeding tube. My throat hasn't closed up
once."

About two years ago, Meyer began collecting testimonies from people
who also believe Huerta helped heal them. The stories number in the
hundreds.

Huerta, who still practices law, said he has put more than $1
million of his own money into the ministry.

He has financed a replica of Jesus' tomb, a chapel and a television
show. He also has accrued monthly bills. Only in the past three months
has he begun to take up a collection during services (about $500 so
far) to offset costs.

To most people, the amount of money he has spent may sound
outrageous. But Huerta said it's nothing in comparison to all he has
wasted.

The $1 million on a failed restaurant, $750,000 on a taco stand
franchise, $100,000 on a collapsed oil well, not to mention what he
gambled away.

"I know I am putting that money to better use. I can see where it is
going and that it is bringing people closer to God," he said.

For years the stories of Huerta's promise to God have circulated. So
have rumors and truths about his fast life filled with binge drinking,
heavy gambling and reckless abandonment for those who cared for him
most.

Some of those truths have made it difficult for some in the
community to accept Huerta.

Henry Medina, a longtime friend who leads songs at Tuesday services,
said Huerta knows there still are people who doubt his motives and his
abilities. People who have called him the worst kind of ambulance
chaser by using prayer to get into hospital rooms otherwise off
limits.

Huerta maintains he never has visited a family that didn't invite
him. He tries to mask the frustration that begins to creep out when he
talks about the skeptics and turns to Scripture.

"Did you know that Jesus wasn't accepted in his hometown? No one
believed that a carpenter's son could be creating all these miracles,"
he said. "For almost 10 years I've been doing this work. Miracles have
happened, but there are still people who won't believe."

So why, then, did God choose him?

Because, Huerta said, Scripture tells us God works through the tax
collectors and prostitutes of the world. He seeks out those least
likely to be messengers and shows them a more righteous path. They, in
turn, help others turn away from lives of sin and despair.

It's Tuesday morning and the start of a long day. He sits at his
desk, his expensive shoes kicked up in the far corner. Littered from
one end to the other are stacks of messages - some are local, others
are not - but all beg the same thing.